by Gary Strauss @gbstrauss, USA TODAY

by Gary Strauss @gbstrauss, USA TODAY

The miraculous account of a 13-month survival at sea has come under scrutiny from the author of a book that chronicled a similar account of three fisherman adrift for months in the Pacific Ocean.

Jose Salvador Alvarenga's tale - surviving on turtles, fish, birds and their blood as currents took him 6,500 miles from Mexico to the Marshall Islands - has captivated the media since he washed up on a tiny atoll last week. When he was found, the bearded, long-haired fisherman's story sounded straight out of a Hollywood screenplay, made more touching by a telephone call with his parents in El Salvador, who hadn't spoken to him in eight years.

But Joe Kissack, a former Sony Pictures executive and author of The Fourth Fisherman: How Three Mexican Fishermen Came Back From the Dead, Changed My Life and Saved My Marriage, tells USA TODAY Alvarenga's dramatic account has elements remarkably similar to his book, which details the saga of five sea castaways that began when their fishing boat drifted from Mexico in October 2005.

Like Alvarenga, they drifted until their rescue near the Marshall Islands in August 2006. Like Alvarenga, they survived on wild prey they caught. Two died. Alvarenga claims an 18-year-old companion who joined him on what was to be a day trip also perished at sea.

"When I heard the young man's name, my jaw hit the table,'' Kissack says. "As far as this thing being a copycat of the story I wrote, who knows? My initial reaction was skepticism."

When the three men in Kissack's book were first rescued, their story was high profile, but mostly only in Mexico. It, too, drew skeptics.

"From my research, I know it's possible for people who know how to fish to survive months in the water,'' Kissack says. "If this guy's story is true, it confirms what my guys went through. Maybe it's just a weird set of coincidences."

Alvarenga has also drawn doubts from Gee Bing, acting secretary of foreign affairs for the Marshall Islands, who noted that Alvarenga looked thin, but not emaciated. Alvarenga was also able to walk on his own and did not appear badly sunburned, either. Kissack notes that when the subjects of his book made land, their skin was badly sunburned and they were very thin.

Doctors in the Marshall Islands released Alvarenga just 24 hours after he was hospitalized, saying if his story is true, he's a "walking medical miracle."

Mexican officials say when Alvarenga's 23-foot boat went missing, a search was launched for two weeks. No trace was found.

"Someone will find out what the truth is, it may just take a while,'' Kissack says.